It's time now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker today is Dr. Sid Cates, principal of Bob Jones Academy. The title of his message is, Be Ye Kind One to Another. The text is from Ephesians chapter 4, verses 30 through 32. Our chapel speaker this morning is Dr. Sid Cates, our new academy principal. Thank you, Dr. Dweck, short and sweet, new Academy principal. I am looking forward greatly to shepherding, working with the faculty, staff, students in the Academy. And I know that we have a number, a little over 200 Academy students here this morning. And I do look forward greatly to working with you, the staff and the faculty. But most importantly, I look forward to working with parents, your parents and the parents of of our students as a sacrifice to continue the can. Anybody who knows me and I know many of the men in the back there know me. I have a love in my heart for the academy that never left even though I've been gone for nine years and never left and I appreciate the Lord allowed me this opportunity administration to be back in the academy. Interesting yesterday Mr. Woods has talked to Eric Woods and he said he was at the table in the dining counter table and dining common speaking to someone and that person asked him said well who's the new academy principal he said Sid Cates and his son nine year old son was tugging on his shirt and finally he said what is it son he said did you say Bill Gates is going to be principal of the academy. I told Mr. Woods I said if it was Bill Gates you'd probably get a raise but since it's Sid Cates you won't get a raise. But it's my privilege to be there. I love the academy. That's the first in my heart as far as an institution is concerned. Second would be NASCAR, but first would be would be the academy. All right. If you would please turn to Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians four, and then put your finger, if you would please, in Genesis chapter 18. Some of you, I know, have the privilege of preaching and teaching. And I love preaching. I love teaching. and from the Word of God. And most of the time when I go and try to find a sermon to speak on, I always look at something I need. And what I'm going to talk about with you this morning, teach you this morning, some lessons the Lord has shown me through these verses here, is something that I needed in my life this past Christmas. And I asked the Lord to give me something. It was a problem I was having in my life. And so I asked the Lord to give me some verses to help me with this problem. And I want to share those verses with you. and share some thoughts as far as these verses are concerned. First of all let's take a look at Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4 it talks about grieving the Holy Spirit. Now remember now the Holy Spirit is within all of us. We're the temple that God has put the Holy Spirit there. The Lord said that he put the Holy Spirit there and he might be a comforter. Holy Spirit is there that he might teach us, draw us into all truths. The Holy Spirit is there that he might produce the fruit of the Spirit in our life, love, joy, peace and longsuffering. But primarily he's there as a seal or a guarantee that we have been born again. And he says in here, in this book, chapter four, Ephesians, he's telling us, Paul is telling us about how that we as believers can grieve the Holy Spirit with our actions. And he says in verse number 30, and he says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed under the day of redemption. And then he goes on to tell us what things that we can do or wind up doing that actually hurt or grieve the Holy Spirit that's within us. He says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, bitterness, wrath, rage, temper, anger, resentment, clamor, quarreling, division among the brethren, causing contention among our friends and others, evil speaking, slander, gossip, blasphemous tongue, malice, spite. He says all these things will grieve the Holy Spirit that's within you, that Christ put there, that God put there, To be a seal, to be a reminder to you that indeed you have been born again, the Holy Spirit is there. But then he goes on to say in the next verse, and this is the verse that spoke to me, he says this, it's the exact opposite of grieving the Holy Spirit. We know what grieves the Holy Spirit. Now let's take a look and see what pleases the Holy Spirit. And he says in verse 32, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. I don't know what your home verse is. When my wife and I first got married, we put on our front door, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Even though that was our proclaimed verse for our house, by far the most important verse in our house, our home, was this one here. Be ye kind one to another. I had two girls. One teaches in the academy, April. And constantly you've got girls together. I'm sure same thing with boys. Every now and then they would have disagreements. Sometimes my wife and I would have disagreements and it always wind up quoting this verse be kind one to another tend to hearted and forgiving was quoted quite often around our house. And I remember this past Christmas that Lord laid some of my heart. I really need to to to work in my own life. And so I want to share with you what the Lord shared with me with these first few verses here. Be ye kind one to another. Be kind. You know, it's easy when when people around us, when adults around us, if the Lord were around us, it's easy to be kind. We can be kind. I can say kind things if I want to. I can do kind things to people if I want to. I can make myself do kind things. You go to a used car salesman, he'll say all kind of nice things about you or to sell your car. I can be kind. We can do kind things. But there's no way seeing here. He's saying we are to be kind. You see, there's a difference between being kind and just doing kind things. Kind people. Think of the most holy person you know. The most godly person you know. They are kind people. They don't just do kind things. They are kind people. I want to be a kind person. Kind to others. How do you be kind? How do you be kind? You know, the Bible earlier in Ephesians chapter 1 says, Be holy and without blame. Talks about according he had chosen since the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame. And yet most of us seem to think that that holy being holy is doing holy things. Going to church, winning somebody, doing holy things, therefore we're holy. But that's not what it says. It says we are to be holy. And it's the same thing here. He says we are to be kind, not just do kind things. The Pharisees had this thing all messed up concerning holiness. They thought if they do holy things all the time, they don't go a certain distance on the Sabbath. They don't do this and they don't do that. They had all these rules, the Pharisaical rules. They thought that would make them holy. As a matter of fact, Christ didn't say they did one wrong thing. He never said they did one. They didn't do anything wrong. They were always doing holy things. But they weren't holy. Because he talked about how on the inside, really, they were full of vipers and dead men's bones. So doing holy things does not make you holy any more than doing kind things makes us kind. But how do you be kind? How do you have a kind heart? How can you be kind one to another? You know, God has a test for us of kindness. Sometimes I walk by the seminary on my way to my office all this year. As an office in the alumni building, and I would think I would go by the seminary, I think to myself. These young men will spend four years, sometimes many will spend five, six, maybe seven years working on the doctor's degree, maybe longer than that. And we will give them tests to see how much Bible knowledge they have. We'll give them tests to see if they can write a paper and be grammatically correct. We'll give them all kind of tests before they graduate. But the true test of their dedication to the Lord, we can't give a test for that. What about their desire to serve the Lord? There's no test for that. What about their desire to please God? What's their desire and their thirst for the word of God? There's no way we can test that. But God has a test for that, and God has a test for the heart. God has a test for us to see if we're truly kind on the inside. If you turn to Genesis 18, I think there's a good example of the test that God gave Abraham there in Genesis chapter 18 about kindness. The true test of your kindness comes in. How do you treat your friend when you're angry at him? How do you how do you treat a child that you might be working in Sunday school with when you're when you're angry and something doesn't go right and you're hot and you're sweating and your car is not working properly and you get out and somebody asks you some stupid question. How do you react? That's the true test of kindness. God gives us a test of kindness. Are you really a kind person and just do kind things? In Genesis chapter eight, let me lay the groundwork for you. Abraham, probably one of the richest men in the entire world, relatively speaking. He had many, many servants. His wife, Sarah, had many, many handmaidens or servants for her as well. One of the richest men in the world, he's sitting in his tent one day on a very hot day, probably on the outside of his tent under the shade, and he sees three men walking toward his tent. He does not know who these three men are. They could be thieves for all he knows. They could be penniless wayfarers. He doesn't know who they are. One of them happens to be the son of God, but he doesn't know that. He doesn't know that as far as he knows, these are just wayfaring strangers. They could be thieves. But this is God's test for him of his kindness. How kind is he going to be to these wayfaring strangers? Chapter 18, verse one. And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, as he said, in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he, Abraham, lifted up his eyes and lo and looked, and three men stood by him. And when he saw Abraham saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself before the ground. One of the richest men in the world, he runs toward these strangers and he bows toward them. And he said, My Lord, now I know that word Lord is capital. But it was a greeting just as he would say, gentlemen, I do not believe that he really knew that this was the Lord Jesus Christ here that was coming to him walking as one of the strange. I don't believe he knew that at all. I don't think he knew it till later when there was something said about his wife laughing. But he was just three strangers, but this was God's test of his kindness. Verse three says, and he said, my Lord, if now I find favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee from thy servants. Let a little water, I pray you be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. And I, Abraham, will fetch a morsel of bread. I have 300 servants here, but I will fetch a morsel of bread for you and comfort your hearts. After that, you shall pass on, for therefore you come to your servant. And they said, so do as thou said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, who had handmaids of her own who could do things for her. And he said to Sarah, he said, make ready quickly three measures of fine, good meal needed and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran under the herd and fetched a calf, tender and good, a good calf. a tender meated calf and get that calf and he gave it to someone and he dressed it and said before them and he stood by them under the tree as they did eat. He served them. This was God's test of Abraham's kindness. What do you do when no one's looking now? It's easy, in my opinion, if God if Abraham knew that this was God coming, it's easy to be kind when somebody is watching. But what if no one's watching? And this was a test that God gave Abraham. It's interesting, almost this, almost something very similar to this is spoken of later in Matthew 25, when the Lord's given the Olivet Discourse and he's talking about separating those, basically those who are not going into the Kingdom of God from those who are going to the Kingdom of God. And he looks at this one group. And he says this one group, he says, you know, he says, I want you to enter into my kingdom. And they're somewhat surprised and they say, well, what did we do? And he said to him, he said, you know, when I was hungry, you fed me. He said, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me in. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick, you helped me out. When I was a prisoner, you visited me. And they said, look, I never saw you hungry. I never saw you without any water. I mean, I don't remember you inviting you. I never don't remember ever giving you any clothes. And he said this to those that were rewarded by him, he said this, he said, when you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. When you have been kind to the least of these, my brethren, then you've been kind to me. Kindness. Well, we don't expect it. Sure, if the Lord came hungry, they would be willing to give. But if the Lord came and he needed clothes, they would be given to her to give him clothes. But this was to people they didn't like. These were to the homeless. These were to the sick. These are the people that were uncomfortable. You were uncomfortable being around. And he said, when you did it to the least of these. He said, you've done it to me, God's test of kindness. She brought Kate's. I really would like to be kind. Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and witness and keep yourself unspotted, James says. That's pure religion. How do I be kind? How? I mean, I do kind things when I want to do, and I know I'm kind when around my thoughts, but how do I want a kind heart, a sweet heart, a loving heart, a tender heart? How? And I think the key is with the Holy Spirit again. You know, the Holy Spirit was put into us as a seal to their redemption. They promised it will happen one day. You are sealed. It's my guarantee. But also, he was put there, Christ says, to be a comforter. The Holy Spirit comforts us in times of trouble. The Holy Spirit also reveals truth unto us. The Holy Spirit will guide us, we're told in Luke. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in our life. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, patience, meekness, and so forth. The Holy Spirit does that. Think about the godliest person you know. That person's a kind person. And that person really, truly produces the fruit of the Spirit in their life, don't they? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering. And yet, if you look at the Old Testament, it says their heart is wicked, deceitful above all things. The kindest person, you know, the one who is full of love, joy, peace and long suffering really has a wicked heart on the inside. But why does it appear that their characteristics are kindness and love, joy and peace? Why is it? It's because we see the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their life. Would you like to be kind? There's a secret to having a kind heart. And that's allowing the Holy Spirit to produce it within your heart. Now, let me tell you something. Automatically, the Holy Spirit does that when he's on fire and burning within our heart. But you know what we can do to the Holy Spirit? Who is on fire, who is producing the fruit of the Spirit, who has comforted us in times of trouble, who guides us and does his work. You know what happens when the Holy Spirit is on fire? We have a tendency to want to quench the Holy Spirit, to put out that fire. And when we quench the Holy Spirit, he cannot produce the kindness that we want to have in our heart. He cannot produce love, joy, peace and all. It can't be done because he's been quenched. Did I say he's been put out? You can't put out the Holy Spirit. Once saved, always saved. But it's like a hot coal that you take and you put in some ashes and you don't feel the heat from the hot coal, but it's there. The Holy Spirit is there when we quench him. He's still there. We're saved. But the fire is not roaring and the fire is not producing kindness. The fire is not producing the fruit of the spirit. And the only way that we could do that is to keep from quenching the Holy Spirit. One of the ways to quench the Holy Spirit is unconfessed sin. You have unconfessed sin in your life. You are quenching the Holy Spirit. And in order to keep the fire roaring and in order to build a fire, you have to give them the gasoline, the fuel from the Word of God. So when we when we confess our sins and stay confessed up as far as our sin is concerned, and when we feed the fire with the Word of God, it's a blaze. And what the Holy Spirit does is his normal job. He does this. He produces kindness. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in our life. You want to be kind? Don't quench the Holy Spirit. I haven't confessed sin, you want to be kind, allow the fire to burn, and the only way to fuel the fire is with the word of God. The most godly person, you know, has a wicked heart on the inside, but it's been covered with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is what produces the love, joy, peace, long suffering and kindness. That's who produces and that's what you see, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Kindness comes, true kindness comes. from the Holy Spirit. One illustration, and I'll close. There's a girl that led me to the Lord. Her name was Linda Mullis. She led me to the Lord a number of years ago in the late 1960s. And Linda was my girlfriend. Before I was saved, she actually led me to the Lord in August of that year. Before I was saved, her daddy would not let me date her, but he would let me come over to the house. And one day we were over at the house before I was saved. One of the early years, or early months before I was saved, I went over to her house and they were having a cookout. They were making hamburgers on the grill. And we ran out of, or the mother, Mrs. Mullis ran out of hamburger buns. And so she asked me if I would go to the store, the A&P, which is right down the road from, and get some hamburger buns. And so she gave Linda a dollar, back then you could buy hamburger buns for a dollar. It was 80 cents probably. I don't know exactly. And so she gave her dollar and we got in my car and we drove down to the A&P. We went to the A&P and we got the hamburger buns and we went to the checkout thing. And I didn't realize that a pastor who's a preacher in chapel had been to her church before I attended and had told almost the same illustration about something would happen to us in that A&P and gave Linda the opportunity to be kind to someone and also show me kindness herself because of this instance. Much of this instance is one of the reasons she had opportunity to the Lord. We were there in the line behind us was a man who's quite irritated. In fact he had to get gone. We had our bread and there's an old lady in front of us and she would have bought a few little groceries there. And so the lady the teenage girl that was behind the counter rang it up and so forth. When she got through, she opened her little purse, you know, and she pulled out the money and she laid it down and the little girl counted out behind us, the guy behind us, he was frustrated, he was in a hurry, didn't make a difference to me, I just liked being with Linda, so we were standing in line there. And so she was counting and the girl said, you don't have enough money. And so the lady reached back in her little purse again and she poured it all out there and she counted it all and the girl said, you're still, you're lacking like eight cents, ten cents or something like that. And so she said, you're going to have to take something away. And so she took some fruit and she put it over here. And she didn't had to ring it. She had to bring the manager over to redo the cash register and everything. It was irritating to her, irritating teenager. The man behind me was irritated. I enjoyed it because I was with Linda. And so she was going through. And finally, Linda asked me, can I borrow a quarter? And I said, Linda, we got enough money. She said, can I borrow a quarter? So I said, I gave her a quarter. And the lady went on out, put her little stuff in her. She had a little buggy herself. Put her stuff in the buggy and the teenage girl set the fruit aside. And so we went up there and we bought the buns and Linda said, can I buy the fruit too? They said, sure. And she gave her the money that I had given her for quarter, the extra money. She went ahead and bought the fruit. And she went outside and the lady was walking to an apartment complex right behind there. And Linda ran over to her and she said, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am. And she said, I just want to let you know you left this fruit behind. And she said, Well, thank you. Did you pay for this? She says, No, I didn't pay for he paid for pointing me. I feel very good about that. I got in the car there and she was she was she took my hand. She said, She said, You won't believe it. She said, We had evangelists that told almost the same story in our church here recently. And she said, I've been asking God to show me the same kind of kindness to someone else. And because we never forget, we talked about as a matter of fact, she came by our house not too long ago. We relive that situation again. But because of her kindness, because she was truly kind from the inside, others saw it and I saw it. And that was one of the reasons she had an opportunity to lead me to the Lord. The Bible says be kind, not just do kind things, but be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And you can't do it on your own. You have to allow the Holy Spirit to do it in your life as he, as his fire produces the fruit of the spirit, which includes kindness in your life. Father, we do thank you for the privilege that we have of being able to read thy word, to take heed to thy word. But most importantly, Father, we thank you for the Holy Spirit that you've assured us is within us to seal us into that day of redemption. We thank you for a Holy Spirit that has the job of producing the fruit of the spirit in our life, produce kindness, to be a comforter, to guide, to be a guide. Father, we thank you for that. But we understand, too, without feeding the Holy Spirit with the Word of God and keeping our life free from sin through confession, Father, that we quench the Holy Spirit, help us to understand the power that we have with a burning Holy Spirit that's on the inside, producing the kindness. You've been listening to The Chapel Hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. Sid Cates, principal of Bob Jones Academy. For a cassette copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.